


A Poorly Kept Secret

by graceyikes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Manager reader, Other, Reader has glasses, gender neutral reader, god im sorry this is so self indulgent, nishinoya is a wreck and i am HERE for it, pretend youre good at history, slowburn, vague setting in relation to canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28891137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graceyikes/pseuds/graceyikes
Summary: Soulmate!AU You're a second year manager for the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Team, and Nishinoya needs help studying for history. One successful study session, multiple threats to Hinata, and a training camp later, you realize that maybe life has a way of putting you exactly where you're supposed to be.
Relationships: Nishinoya Yuu/Reader, Nishinoya Yuu/You
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	A Poorly Kept Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is likely all very OOC, and as a fair warning, I don't proofread, but I'm proud of it so I'm posting it lol. Just a little self-indulgent noya fic. Fairly certain I kept the reader gender neutral, and the only physical descriptor I gave is that they wear glasses, but if you don't I suppose you can pretend they're sunglasses? It's only mentioned once but it is a decently large plot point.

“Y/N?” Kiyoko startled you, standing outside your classroom door.

  
“Yeah, what’s up?” You said, readjusting your backpack as you walked the hall toward the boys’ gym.

  
“Try to be discrete, but could you offer to help Nishinoya with his history class? His grade is slipping and Coach asked me to find someone to help him get it back up.”

“Oh! Yeah, no problem Kiyoko!” You said excitedly, happy it wasn’t about anything serious. You jump again as you cross through the door to the club room, feeling a hand land on your forearm.

“What are two of my favorite ladies talking about?” Noya. Of course it was Noya, the very person you had been discussing. Your upperclassman’s words echoed in your head: ‘be discrete’.

“The test coming up in history, I was asking if Kiyoko had her notes from last year so I could put together a study guide for myself.” You catch her eye, and she gives you a thankful smile.

“Sadly I don’t, but maybe the two of you could study together? Two minds are greater than one, after all,” She suggested, before stepping over to grab her stats notebook and make her way to the gym.

“I’m not sure how much help I would be, I’m honestly kind of lost in that class lately” Nishinoya said, rubbing the back of his neck as you put your bag down on the floor by the door, taking your hair out of the ponytail you’d put it up in at lunch earlier that day.

“I’m sure studying with you couldn’t hurt, and I honestly need more Noya Time in my life right now,” You said, failing to notice the sheepish blush that spread across the boy's face.

“O-Okay! My place or yours?”  
\---  
That weekend, it was roughly noon when you arrived at Nishinoya’s house. You hesitate at the front door, not knowing whether to knock or text him and let you know you were there. As you debate your options, the door swings open and your decision is made for you.

“You must be Y/N, Yuu has been talking nonstop about how you’re coming over,” An older girl stands in front of you, probably five or so years older than you are. She’s absolutely beautiful, and it makes you suddenly very self conscious of the fact that you’re wearing an old volleyball tee shirt and sweatpants.

“Yeah, I am, you’re one of his sisters right?” You say, hoping you remember correctly that Nishinoya has older sisters.

“Himari I told you I would get the door!” Nishinoya came bounding down the hall, running his fingers through his-oh. His hair. It’s not gelled up.

You’ve seen him like this before, of course, in the mornings at training camps, but somehow it’s different now. His eyes are bright and awake, an annoyed grimace on his face as he gets into a small tiff with his sister over something you can’t even process because suddenly your stomach is rolling and your mouth feels very, very dry.

What is this? You’ve never felt like this before-are you dying? You really can’t die right now, dying in sweatpants is not an option, so you take a deep breath and realize Nishinoya’s sister isn’t there anymore, and he’s standing there looking at you expectantly.

Right, you’re still standing on the front steps. Staring at him with wide eyes.

“Sorry, I zoned out for a second, did you say something?”

“It’s fine, I do that all the time” he laughs, and there it is again. And you realize what it is. And you wish you hadn’t realized.

Because now he’s grabbing your hand, pulling you into his home and back down the hallway. “This is my room, I’ve got my notes out but again, they probably won’t be much help.”

His room, and this is not said lightly, is the wildest space you’ve ever been in.  
There’s a pile of empty cans on the dresser, a desk next to the bed that’s covered in so many papers you can’t discern which are his history notes, if any. The floor has clear paths carved into it, the rest is covered in dirty clothes. And the Bed, oh my god, the bed. It has more pillows than any one human could ever need, and no blankets. The walls are nearly covered in pictures, thumbtacked and taped so they overlap and wallpaper the four walls of his room. A shelf near the door is littered with trophies, ribbons, and next to it you see the only framed photo, showing the familiar face of the second years, one that you recognize from the first time the six of you hung out outside of practice.

“I remember that! Oh my god that was right before Tanaka spilled his entire bowl of ramen on his lap” You say, pointing to the picture and failing to stifle a giggle.

“I can’t believe we ever stopped making fun of him for that, honestly,” Nishinoya laughed, climbing into the pile of pillows he calls a bed.

“Hinata would love to hear about it, I’m sure”

“Pretty sure Tsukkishima would be more excited about it-”

“That little dude loves other people's pain, it would be terrifying if he was on any other team than ours”

“Little? He’s like 190cm!” Nishinoya exclaimed, patting a space on the bed next to him, and you made your way over.

“Yeah, but he’s a first year, he may be taller than us but we’ll always have seniority,” You laugh, holding your hand out for a fist bump.

His fist collides with yours, and in that brief moment the whole scene from moments ago at his front door comes flooding back. You’d been so distracted by the contents of his room that somehow you had forgotten the Life Changing Feelings you suddenly felt.

The skin on your knuckles is burning, and you can’t help but wonder if his is too.

“Um, okay, so.” You say, fishing through your bag as you readjust yourself on his bed-His Bed-fumbling through it and trying to ignore how your hands are shaking, hoping he can ignore the slight quiver in your voice. “Here! Okay, so I made this outline of the past chapter, and”

You take a deep breath, remembering your task from Kiyoko to discreetly tutor the libero.

“Can I ask you something kind of weird?”

“Sure?” Nishinoya says, and it honestly sounds more like a question than an answer, but you’ll take what you can get at this point, as your mind races trying to remember how much eye contact is normal so you don’t make too much or too little, as part of you wants to never look in his eyes again, and the rest of you wants to never look anywhere else.

“Usually I just study by trying to explain the material to someone, but usually they don’t already know it, so do you think you could pretend to not know it so I can teach it?” You ask, internally dying at how awkward you sounded.

“Y/N, trust me, I won’t be pretending, I deadass don’t know a single thing from this unit” He laughs, and your heart is in your throat, brain reeling as you wonder how you never noticed how wonderful his laugh is before.

“Mood, that’s me in math” You joke, knowing your words are stained with truth as you shuffle through your papers.

“No like for real, look at my notes” He says, leaning over to put a piece of paper on your lap. It’s covered in half sentences that lead into doodles, sometimes even cutting off in the middle of words.

“Noya…” You trail off, mouth agape at the paper in front of you.

“I know, it’s bad, I just get so distracted when Sensei starts talking about stuff from like a million years ago and-”

“No, this is perfect!” You cut him off, grabbing his hand before you can even think twice. You hold it up in both your hands, looking into his eyes. “I’ll study by teaching you, and that way we both get something out of this!”

“Oh, so just being around me isn’t enough for you?” Nishinoya smirks, glancing down at your enclasped hands between the two of you.

You blush, fighting against yourself to come up with a witty remark.

“Keep it in your pants, Nishinoya, I’m here to talk early human civilization, not about how handsome you are” And you’ve never wished you could grab words out of thin air and put them back into your mouth more than when you saw his smirk grow into a smug grin.

“So you think I’m handsome, huh?” He says, leaning forward towards you.

“I think you’re in desperate need of a tutor,” You retort, and his eyebrows shoot up for half a second in surprise.

Two hours later, Nishinoya had, honest to God, improved. You had begun by asking him what he knew, which wasn’t a lot, and since then he seemed to have an actual grasp of the topics.

He’d definitely do alright on the multiple choice section, and he had the short answers down, it was just the maps that had him really struggling.

“Y/N my brain is melting, can we please take a break?” He whined, leaning his head on your shoulder as you pointed to another section of the maps and looked to him for the correct label.

“Come on Noya, you know this one! It’s where the horses were trained…?” You gave him a generous hint.

“Hittite?” He said into your shoulder, head shooting up when he felt you nodding.

“Yes! Okay, wait, where was the library burned down?”

“That’s easy, Egypt.” He said. “I just don’t know where that is on this map.”

“I’ve got an idea,” You say, handing him a map and pulling out a copy for yourself, handing him a pen from your bag.

“Okay, so when you get your test, you won’t be docked for putting markers on the map to help you label it, so let’s try something and see if it helps.”

You start drawing on the map, roughing in the borders, trying with all your might to pretend like you don’t want to crumble into a million pieces as the Potential Love Of Your Life watches you draw an absolutely horrific horse.

“What’s that supposed to be?” He asks, once again placing his head on your shoulder, hand coming over to tilt the page towards him.

“I never claimed to be an artist, but it’s a horse,”

“That's supposed to be a HORSE?” He practically yelled, face lighting up with glee.

“I said I’m not an artist!”

“No, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen, why does it have five legs?” He said, grabbing the paper and looking at it like a kid on christmas.

“That’s it’s tail-Noya! Don’t make fun of my horse!” You pretend to pout, and he lowers the page, stifling his grin-or, he tried to, it was still clearly there.

“I love your horse, it’s adorable,” He said, wrapping his arms around you in a hug.

“I guess I forgive you,” You joke, knowing your face was burning up.

“It’s also an affront to God,” He says, leaning back and grabbing something from his desk.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m keeping this forever, it’s so good, sorry,” He smiles, taping the map with one poorly drawn horse to his wall.

“You’re lucky I made so many copies” you grumble, pulling another from your bag.

Twenty minutes later, the two of you have decided on a handful of symbols he can draw on a blank map with a passable level of accuracy, and then name the civilizations accordingly.

“Noya, you got it all! I mean, Anatolia might be a little too far to the right, but honestly I think you’ve got this down!”

“You’re a miracle worker Y/N,” He said, smiling at you with wonder.

“You’re the one who did it, I just helped” You say, not used to being praised.

“Yeah, but I would’ve been so lost without your help-you’re like, an amazing tutor.” He pressed, grabbing your hand and pulling you to his chest. He fell back into a pile of pillows, and as his arms wrap around your back you can’t help but wonder where exactly the line is between being friendly and outright flirting.

You also can’t help like feeling that wherever the line happens to be, cuddling definitely crosses it. And as much as you wish you were alone in your room, texting the managers group chat frantically about how you think Nishinoya might be your soulmate, you weren’t mad about the place you were instead.

‘Coming from the best Libero there is, that’s high praise,” You say quietly, once again finding yourself locked in the eye contact debate.

“You think I’m a good libero?” He says, and you’re shocked to the core at how surprised he sounds.

“Yeah Noya, I’ve never seen anyone better at it than you,” You didn’t even think before you said that, because you’re unsure about basically everything in your life, but you’re certain that Nishinoya is good at volleyball. You’d bet your life on it.

“Thank you.” Once again, he’s uncharacteristically quiet. You roll off his chest and prop yourself up on an elbow.

“You know, Hinata isn’t exaggerating when he calls you the Guardian Deity of Karasuno.” Seriousness drips from your lips, and he looks as shocked as he sounded moments before. “You can’t seriously think that you’re not amazing?”

“I don’t know, I miss like half the saves I try to make, and-” It seems to be his turn to avoid eye contact.

“No, and nothing! Nishinoya Yuu, look at me right now!” His eyes meet yours, and you swear you see a new color there. Something you’ve never seen before, it’s somehow more real and vibrant than anything else in the world and for a second, you lose your train of thought.

“You are a good libero, a valued and invaluable member of the team, and one of the best players I have ever seen.” You manage to say, and he seems to melt at your words.

“Point, blank, period, that’s the end of it. You’re amazing, deal with it.”

You flop back into his arms, and he holds you closer than before, giving you a gentle squeeze after a few seconds as if he needs to remind himself you’re really there. You wish he would never let you go, and for a second you pretend he won’t ever have to.  
\---  
“Y/N!” A familiar voice calls as you’re setting up the net for practice a week later. Yachi bites her lip, looking at you as Nishinoya comes sprinting into the gym, not yet changed into his practice clothes.

You climb down off the chair Yachi was holding steady and are about to ask him what’s up when his body collides with yours, arms wrapped tightly around your waist and-  
You're in the air. Your feet have left the ground and you’re spinning-not like your head is spinning because you’re overwhelmed, no, you’re literally spinning. Nishinoya has lifted you into a hug and is spinning you as he laughs with that perfect laugh that, admittedly, does make your head spin a little.

He slows, returning your feet to the gym floor but doesn’t remove his arms from your waist-not that you’re complaining about that.

“You’re AMAZING” He shouts, and you laugh, at a loss for words.

“Okay, why?”

“Look!” He says, bringing one hand around to shove a crumpled paper in your hands.

It’s the history test. You’d taken it on monday, they were handed back in the last period and you didn;t even think to ask what Nishinoya had gotten, too distracted by the teasing you were enduring at the hands of your fellow managers for your blossoming crush on the libero.

You smooth it out, and he is practically vibrating with energy as your eyes zero in on the grade circled at the top: 81%.

“Holy shit!” You exclaim, face breaking out in a grin before looking at him, locking eyes for a split second before he lifts you again, spinning you one last time.

“Y/N L/N, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” He says, and time stops for a moment.

Not because of the great romance of it all, although perhaps in hindsight that is why. It stopped because you felt a searing pain in your ribs, right where his arm is pressed against you.

Memories flashback to childhood, holding your fathers hand in a grocery store and loudly asking why a woman in line had a bird tattooed on her leg.

Your father explained, after apologizing to the woman, that it was a soulmate mark. It meant that she had made a lifelong connection to someone, bonded so deeply that their souls were forever intertwined.

Later, at home, he showed you his, a small boat on his left shoulder.

You mother had a single rose in the same place, and they told you of how those two marks signified the moment it became clear for them that they were the others soulmate.

Your mother’s had shown up two months after they met, when he brought her a single rose for their first date, His had shown up when she agreed to go kayaking with him, despite her entire lack of interest in nature.

It was a topic not many people spoke about, because of the uncertainty of it. Sometimes one person would have a mark, and not understand it, or know for certain their soulmate didn't have one yet. Others were left with nothing but a mark and memories when their soulmate left them once a mark appears for someone else.

You’d known since then of the potential emotional pain the mark could cause, but you’d never been warned of the extremely real physical pain it was causing right now. That is, assuming that’s what was happening, and not that Nishinoya had like, broken a rib with his intense hug.

Pushing the pain away, you wrap your arms around Noya, holding him close before a cough startled the two of you apart.

Jumping out of each other’s arms, you turn to see the entire Karasuno Boys volleyball team looking at you with various expressions of amusement and disgust.

“Nishinoya, go get changed for practice” Daichi said, and Noya quickly bowed before tossing you a not-so-subtle wink and dashing out to the club room to change.

“Y/N L/N, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” Tanaka says, exaggeratedly. Hinata is snorting, nearly doubled over with laughter.  
Still feeling the pain in your rib, you know the teasing would only increase tenfold if you left to go check it, you ignore it still and make direct eye contact with Tanaka.

“Remember when you spilled your ramen on your lap last year?” You smirk, and his smile drops.

“No! I thought you’d forgotten that!” he wails.

“I think I still have the video!” Ennoshita exclaims, and you’re glad to see the attention has been successfully drawn away from you.

Nearly an hour later, with the team running drills and Yachi and Kiyoko distracted by statistics, you excuse yourself to go to the restroom.  
Back against the door, you pull the side of your shirt out and nearly faint, seeing a perfect image of a map emblazoned on your side. The exact map you’d taught to Nishinoya.

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding in, before quickly drawing in another to take its place. You pull out your phone, snapping a photo of it before texting it, without any accompanying text, to the managers group chat.

Before you could even close your phone, the door swings open and Kiyoko, Yachi, and Tanaka-wait, Tanaka?

“Tanaka why are you here?”

“We had to make an excuse that we needed help grabbing something, the only way we could both leave, and he refuses to wait outside.” Yachi explains.

“Okay, fuck it, but you need to swear to me that this information does not leave this bathroom.” You say with unparalleled seriousness.

“Yeah, no problem, you got it.”

“No, I’m not fucking around here, you can’t tell anyone”

“Like I said, you got it.”

“Not your sister.”

“Wouldn’t tell her anyway.”

“Not Nishinoya,” Kiyoko says.

“ESPECIALLY Nishinoya!” Yachi replies, and Tanaka suddenly looks a thousand percent more intrigued.

“Did my boy leave a hickey on you or something?” He says, eyes flicking around your neck.

“Worse.” You lift your shirt, and the three gasp. “Why are you guys gasping? I literally sent you a photo!”

“I don’t know it seemed dramatic!” Yachi cried.

“Is that what I think it is?” Tanaka says, suddenly all business, no play.

“Well it’s not a tattoo, I’ll tell you that much!”

“What’s it even supposed to be?” Yachi asks, looking at it closely. “Like I know it's your soulmark but what is it?”

“It’s the map she helped Nishinoya learn for their history test.” Kiyoko answered, and Yachi gave you a soft smile.

“What are you gonna do? Are you going to tell him?” She asked, and you hadn’t thought that far ahead yet.

“I don’t know, I doubt he has one yet, what if me telling him ruins everything and he never gets one, and I’m just left with this map and a bunch of memories?” You ramble, and Tanaka puts a hand on your shoulder.

“Yuu is my best friend, I know him better than anyone. You should, yeah you should definitely tell him.” He said, and you shook your head.

“I don't know, I’ll think about it,” Liar. You know you’d rather eat five pounds of dirt than tell Nishinoya about this.

“Trust me, I see the way he looks at you-you should tell him.” Tanaka pressed, and you clam up.

“Let’s just go back to practice and we can all pretend none of this ever happened, okay?” You offer, and Tanaka resigns, knowing this isn’t the sort of situation he should meddle in.  
\---  
You’re on the bus home from training camp a month later having successfully kept the mark a secret from Nishinoya-and literally no one else.

Tanaka wasn’t even the one to break first, and it wasn’t Yachi, and it certainly wasn’t Kiyoko.

It was you.

One day earlier, while cleaning up from dinner with the other teams’ managers, and naturally the boys came up in the casual conversation you were making.

“Who’s that short guy you have? He makes some crazy moves!” an Aoba Johsai manager asked.

“Oh Nishinoya? Yeah, he’s great.” You said, wiping down a table.

“No, I mean the one with the orange hair, he’s a first year I think?” She said, and a blush crept up your face. You’ve got Noya brain worms, no doubt about it.

“That’s Hinata, and yeah he’s in his first year.” Kiyoko said. “He’s a bit frantic, but he never seems to run out of energy.”

“Y/N just always wants to talk about her boyfriend,” Yachi teased, and you groan while the managers squeal in excitement.

“You’re dating Nishinoya?” Another manager inquired, seeming shocked that anyone would do that.

“No, him and I are just friends!” You exclaim, coughing when you hear how high pitched your voice had become.

“Yeah, I’m sure all ‘just friends’ spend every second together,” Kiyoko joked, and you gaped at her.

She wasn’t wrong. After you got your mark, you found yourself seeking him out more and more. You two had fallen into a close friendship, complete with eating lunch together and him walking you home most days.

“Okay, just because I have a soulmark doesn’t mean we’re going to end up together!” You say in a hushed tone, and when no one responds, you look up to see all Kiyoko and Yachi looking behind you with wide eyes.

You turn to see Hinata, who had a smile growing across his face.

“Y/N! WHEN DID YOU GET A SOU-” He screamed before you slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Like a month ago, and Noya doesn’t know, so don’t tell him, or I will End You. Got it? Blink once for yes.” You say with shocking precision. Hinata blinks forcefully once, and you remove your hand from his face, sighing.

“I can’t believe I’m the one who fucked this up, I thought for sure it would be Tanaka.”

“TANAKA KNOWS?” Hinata yelled again, flinching when you moved to cover his mouth again.

“Yes, and now you know, but I’m not ready for Noya to know yet so just. For the love of all you hold dear, keep this quiet, okat?” He nods, an understanding look in his eyes.

“Of course.” He said, and you squint your eyes at him suspiciously, knowing he’s not the type for two word answers. “Just one quick question-”

“No, Hinata, I-”

“I just want to see it! Please? I’ve never seen one other than my mom and dads!”

Sighing, you glance around to make sure no one else is there that you don’t want to find out, before you lift the side of your shirt and turn to the side so he can see.

“It’s the-”

“The map from the test you helped him study for! He showed me the map on his wall in his room, he points it out everytime I go over!”  
Feeling the blush return to your face, you fight back a smile. You knew he still had it by his bed, but he brings it up? He talks about you to his friends? That’s almost too much to handle.

The next morning, as you’re loading the bus, Hinata pulls you aside and your stomach drops.

“So, okay, I may have messed up a little, but I didn’t think it would get this bad this fast, or at all for that matter, and I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to and-”

“Hinata just say what you did before you give me a heart attack” You murmur, the two of you huddled behind the bus.

“So I told Kageyama because I had to tell someone and I didn’t know Tsukkishima was in the bathroom too so he heard it, and he told Yamaguchi, who told-”

“How many people know?”

“Um, about that,” Hinata is actively avoiding looking at you now, guilt riddled across his features.

“How. Many. People.” You press, feeling like the world is crashing down on you.

“The entire team! But not Nishinoya! I made sure no one tells him, I know you don’t want him to know, and I’m so so super sorry Y/N!” Hinata exclaims, bowing deeply.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” You say softly, realizing how torn up the younger boy is about this. He looks up, fearful. “You say Noya doesn’t know, and that’s what really matters to me, so I forgive you.”

“Thank you!” He wraps his arms around you in a thankful hug, before sprinting back to the building to help load the rest of the bags and equipment.

Finally able to get a moment alone, you look at the sky as if maybe it holds the answer to all your problems.

And then the answer walks over to you.

“Hey Y/N! Feel like I haven’t seen you all morning!” Nishinoya says, walking over and giving you a brief hug. He tries to pull away before you grip the back of his shirt, burying your face in his neck. “You feeling okay?”

“I’m just,” You mumble into his shirt as he begins stroking your hair softly and that just breaks you. Tears spring to your eyes and you begin blinking to make them go away but they just keep coming and there you are. In the parking lot of a high school you don’t attend, in your manager’s uniform, crying. And you don’t even know how to begin to explain this to Nishinoya, who just stands there, holding you steadfast against his body.

“Hey, hey, don’t cry, it’s okay, I promise, it’ll be okay,” You know he’s your soulmate, you’ve known that for a month, and yet there’s times when it hits you all over again, like when he manages to say the exact right thing even when he has no clue what’s going on. “Here, look at me,”

He pulls away, and this time you let him. Nishinoya’s hands come up to hold your face, his thumbs swiping away the tears from your cheeks.

“Hey, come on you’re breaking my heart here,” He muses, giving you a small smile. “Here, how’s this?” He crosses his eyes and sticks his tongue out, earning a weepy laugh from you and a grin spreads on his face.

“There’s that smile I love to see, much better,” He says, leaning forward and pressing a chaste kiss to your forehead.

Again, the line between friendship and flirting? Blurry at best, but this for sure crosses it. And again, you would ideally be alone and scream crying into a pillow, but as the sun beats down warming the winter air, you can’t help but feel like maybe this is better. Him being there makes it better.

Fuck. You are so gone.

“What’s got you so upset? Do I need to beat someone up? Because I’ll do it-the whole team will have my back too!” Nishinoya asks, and you laugh again.

“As if you’d need backup” You mumble, tears drying up as his hands drop down to rub your arms.

“True, true,” He nods. “So who am I beating up?”

“No one, I’m just really stressed out, I don’t know.” You say, purposefully vague. In that moment, you want nothing more than to tell him everything, but you can’t find the words and the possibility of losing him forever makes the urge die before it even really begins.

“Is there anything I can do to help? Like, I can take on some of your work, or whatever you need, promise!”  
You let the question hang in the air, not knowing how to answer it. In the end, you went with the truth-half of it, anyway.

“You just being here is help enough, honestly.” He smiles, giving your forehead another kiss before he grabs your hand and pulls you to the other side of the bus.

“Okay then, you’re sitting with me on the ride back, and when we get home we’re going to my house and having a sleepover-no excuses, I’m putting my foot down. This is prescription Nishinoya and Y/N time.” He jokes, earning another laugh from you.

“Noya, I don’t have any clothes with me!” You say, knowing it was a weak excuse.

“You have a full bag of clothes?”

“Those are all dirty!”

“Okay, then you’ll borrow some of mine, or my sisters, whatever. I said no excuses, this is a prescription Miss Y/N.” He says, as you and him sit down in the back row of the bus. He gave you the window seat, even though you know he prefers it.

“Okay doctor, does this prescription have any refills? Or is it a one time deal?”

“It has unlimited refills, just one phone call and you’re guaranteed Nishinoya and Y/N time.” He says, and you know he’s not lying. He really would be one phone call away, no matter what.  
\---

That night, you and Nishinoya had eaten far too much popcorn, tried and quickly failed to prank call Kageyama, and were now halfway through a movie neither one of you were paying any attention to. You were sitting on his bed, a laptop propped up on his pile of pillows. He was playing with your left hand, and you were trying your absolute best to not blush.

“Hey Noya?” he hummed in response, looking up at you. “I’m getting kinda tired, can I borrow something to sleep in?”

“Of course!” He leapt off the bed, opening the drawers of his dresser as he seemed to search for something. “Here!”  
He held out what seemed to be a pair of sweatpants and a shirt, pointed to the door.

“You can change in here if you want, I’ll turn around, or you can change in the bathroom, you know where it is.”

Sleep gripped at your bones, and despite your better judgements, you grabbed the clothes and said “Nah, just turn around, I’ll change in here.”

In your defense, the bathroom just seemed so far away.

He spun around, facing the dresser, and you changed as quickly as you could, folding your clothes and placing them in your bag when you were done.

“Okay, you can turn around now,” You said, and when he did, he gasped. “What? Are you okay?” Figuring he turned too fast and hurt something, you move towards him and reach out to begin checking him for injuries. Well, for new injuries. His body was, as per usual, covered with bruises he had earned by being Karasuno’s Guardian Deity.

“No, no, I’m fine, I just.” He said, slack jawed as he looked-oh no. Oh No.

In your effort to get changed quickly, you hadn’t noticed that the bottom of the shirt had gotten caught in the sleeve when you pulled it on, meaning that, you guessed it, your side was exposed.

You froze. He was looking at it and you were looking at him and the world stopped turning.

“Is that?” He choked out, and you knew what he was asking despite the lack of details from his question.

This was it, this was The Nightmare Scenario. At least the rejection will be private, it could be worse.

So, you stared down the barrel of this proverbial gun you had loaded and placed into his hands, and you said the only thing you could.

“I’m sorry,”

“Why are you sorry? This is amazing!” Nishinoya exclaimed, eyes finally leaving your side and meeting yours.

“Noya it’s...it’s the map.” You said, because there’s no way he would be that excited if he truly understood. He must think it’s something else, that you found someone else as a soulmate, and he’s just happy for his friend. Yeah. That’s it.

“I know! Look!” He said, pulling up the side of his shirt, and everything clicks into place.  
\---

Two years ago, Kiyoko had approached you and asked you to come on as trainee manager for the boys volleyball team. You needed an extracurricular anyway, so you decided why not try it out.

You followed her into the gym that day, and were met with a volleyball directly to the face.

Glasses skittered across the hardwood floor, and you blink in surprise before your hand goes up to your face.

“I’m so sorry!” A voice calls out, and you look to see a short boy rushing towards you. “I was messing around and got distracted, I was supposed to hit that ball, oh man your glasses, here,” He bends down to retrieve them, handing them to you.

You place them back on your face, glad to find them unharmed. Your eyes lock with his, taking in his appearance-short, spiky hair with a blonde streak, and the warmest brown eyes you’ve ever seen.

“It’s okay, I’m not hurt!” You laugh it off, and you’re not lying. It really doesn’t hurt that badly, and this kid seems to be freaking out, so you’re inclined to downplay it even further. “I’m Y/N L/N, the new trainee manager. First year.”

“Nishinoya Yuu, libero. Also a first year.”

“Nice to meet you. Now, just one question-what the fuck is a libero?”  
\---  
Right there, on the side of his body, a mirror image of your own marks placement, is a pair of glasses.

Your glasses, to be exact.

“You laughed and that’s when I knew. I knew that I would spend the rest of my life trying to make you laugh if you’d let me. I knew you were it for me, forever.” He said, lowering his shirt and taking your hands in his.

“So, I guess I just have one thing left to ask,” Nishinoya said, and you felt like your face would break from the force of the smile running through it.

“What?”

“Will you let me? Can we spend the rest of our lives with me making you laugh?”

That’s it, that’s the cutest goddamn thing you’ve ever heard. Words escape you, and you’ve only got one other option, and you take it so quickly.

You bring your lips to his, feeling his arms wrap tightly around your waist as he pulls you impossibly close. He grins into the kiss, and you’re smiling too, and the world falls away. It’s just you and him, holding each other and trying to find a way to meld your bodies into one.

“Nishinoya Yuu, I’ll keep laughing for you as long as you’ll have me.” You say, a giggle filtering through the words as he presses his forehead against yours.

“You’re it for me Y/N, I mean it.” Punctuated each word with a kiss, his lips warm and chapped. Your hands come to cup his face, pulling him in for a languid kiss.

“You’re it for me too, Noya. And I’m so fucking glad it’s you.” Now it’s his turn to laugh, as he lifts you up and throws you onto his bed. He lands next to you, his head finding its way into the crook of your neck before sighing with content. You mimic him, a hand lazily drifting through his hair as you lay with the part of you that you didn’t notice had always been missing.

“Everyone knows, by the way. Hinata found out and it was all downhill from there” You say, and Nishinoya snorts, lifting his head.

“Y/N, they’ve all known the entire time, I told everyone the day it happened.”

“What! What about the first years?”

“First day of practice, I sat them all down and explained that you were off limits, and if I found out that they treated you with anything less than the utmost respect that I would rolling thunder them into an early grave,” He explains, and you fight back a laugh, lightly smacking his arm.

“Don’t threaten the first years!”

“I don’t think they even understood it was a threat, if I’m being honest.” He chuckled, falling back to your neck as he began peppering your skin with light kisses, before shooting back up again.

“Oh! I can finally tell you this without it being weird!” He exclaimed, grabbing your face and leaning in close. “Did it hurt?”

“The soul mark? God yes, why does no one talk about that?”

“No no, just. Did it hurt?”

“Did what hurt?”

“When you fell from heaven.” You forced a blank expression, feigning annoyance with the world’s oldest pickup line.

“Because you’re an angel among men, the single most stunning person to ever live, with a laugh that makes flowers bloom.”

And with that, he lifts a hand, entwining your fingers with his, pressing a soft kiss to the back.

“How did I get so lucky?”

“I could ask you the exact same question, angel.”


End file.
